Chinese officials warned off spying

Thousands of Chinese civil servants have been shown an "educational" video about a government official who was reportedly executed for spying for Taiwan, government sources say.

07 Aug 2006 10:23 GMT

Communist China and Taiwan split after a civil war in 1949

Civil servants were made to watch a 30-minute video called The Espionage case of Tong Daning Stealing Secrets which showed the defendant standing trial, sources told the Reuters news agency.

Tong - an official in the National Development and Reform Commission - was executed in April for selling classified documents for about $250,000, the sources said on condition of anonymity.

The commission Tong worked for is responsible for economic planning and reform and does not deal directly with issues related to Taiwan.

The video showed the defendant standing trial before getting into a police car on his way to the execution ground - but it did not show his death.

Educational video

Several official websites - such as the Henan Daily, the Hunan weather bureau, Guangxi University and the state-owned China Nuclear Engineering and Construction Corporation - said civil servants had watched the video. They did not give details of Tong's case or the video's content.